The Diary Of Not Even Semi-Serious DAX30 DayTader

[DAX30DayTrader]

I have a little position LONG on the DAX right here at 8803.

Took half off

 

[DAX30DayTrader]

And out the other half pretty much at break even.

Didn't get going for me, £52 all in.

 

[DAX30DayTrader]

Now it moves....those bloody SB firms are at it again

 

[Vasco da Banana]

Also I never let my stop get hit...never!

If a trade moves around 7-10+ points in my direction, I will never let it comeback to less than +3pts on me without either closing there and then, OR, taking around 75% off and moving my stop to -3 or -5.

If I enter a trade and it goes against me right there and then...never moved into profit after entry, then i often cut half the trade at -5, if it doesn't start coming back to me, then the other half gets cut shortly after. But my stops are never left to be hit. The only reason I place a stop is to protect against fast market movements that occur occasionally.

I've also been trading for over ten years (like you with a break in the middle, having decided that I'd never get it right, although I didn't really lose much money in the process, thankfully), and still find this is one of the hardest things to master psychologically. Even now I often sit watching profit melt away, when I'm fairly certain a trade is falling apart, unable to press the close button.

I reckon everyone who starts trading should forget about profits and first aim how to control losses.

 

[malaguti]

Also I never let my stop get hit...never!

If a trade moves around 7-10+ points in my direction, I will never let it comeback to less than +3pts on me without either closing there and then, OR, taking around 75% off and moving my stop to -3 or -5.

If I enter a trade and it goes against me right there and then...never moved into profit after entry, then i often cut half the trade at -5, if it doesn't start coming back to me, then the other half gets cut shortly after. But my stops are never left to be hit. The only reason I place a stop is to protect against fast market movements that occur occasionally.

reading your thread with mild amusement at first; for some reason I cant disassociate you with many of the other 5k to 250k just trading the DAX threads on here..thats just me! now reading with interest..
this post particularly of interest. I, myself am happy to let the loss get hit, regardless of how long it takes. If its taking a long time, its probably consolidating and will then move in my favour. I'm happy with a 1:1 or even greater with a 65-70% win rate. Your current results are clearly well above this without a losing day it would seem. Great for you obviously, and a post to ponder on indeed.
Good luck on your continued success Dax30

 

[barjon]

...........I reckon everyone who starts trading should forget about profits and first aim how to control losses.............

absolutely - took many years for me to twig to that and many experiences of seeing a couple of good weeks hard earned disappear in a couple of hours

 

[Vasco da Banana]

absolutely - took many years for me to twig to that and many experiences of seeing a couple of good weeks hard earned disappear in a couple of hours

Yep, it's the old 'revenge' mentality, and not being able to take an action that crystalises a loss, even if it's the logical thing to do.

 

[jeffre4]

finspread cityindex same firm

 

[ffsear]

And out the other half pretty much at break even.

Didn't get going for me, £52 all in.

I had a poor day today. Got married to the idea that 8800 was an important level, but it showed little significance.

 

[Vasco da Banana]

Short around here, Not Even Semi-Serious one?

 

[Splitlink]

Now it moves....those bloody SB firms are at it again

Yeah. Bloody pikers.

 

[DAX30DayTrader]

reading your thread with mild amusement at first; for some reason I cant disassociate you with many of the other 5k to 250k just trading the DAX threads on here..thats just me! now reading with interest..
this post particularly of interest. I, myself am happy to let the loss get hit, regardless of how long it takes. If its taking a long time, its probably consolidating and will then move in my favour. I'm happy with a 1:1 or even greater with a 65-70% win rate. Your current results are clearly well above this without a losing day it would seem. Great for you obviously, and a post to ponder on indeed.
Good luck on your continued success Dax30

Hi malaguti,

I didn't turn £5,000 into £250,000, I trade with a much larger account than that, and thats why I'm able to make the money I do trading for 10 to 20pts per trade or more a few times per day.

" I, myself am happy to let the loss get hit, regardless of how long it takes. If its taking a long time, its probably consolidating and will then move in my favour."

Most people do trade that way, and if they are happy and satisfied with that, and their results are showing that to be a good way of trading for them, then who am I to say they are wrong.

I can only post my way of doing this, and it works for me very well. I'm not interested in being in a trade thats consolidating, I would rather take the small profit I have, or the break even I can get, and then forget about it and move on to the next trade when it comes along. I don't need to sit in a trade for 10 mins, 15 mins or 30 mins or 60 mins or more wondering if price will eventually move in my direction...wheres the point in that.

I prefer to just get out, either half of and stop to entry, or exit in full, then shove my money back into the market on the next trade and manage it as I see it there and then.

You can see on that last trade exactly what I did, I spotted a set-up and I anticipated the move, but price moved around 5pts in my direction then stalled, so I removed half off and stop to entry, the second half stopped out. The trade didn't workout for me, but I didn't let it come back on me and cause a loss, and I didn't allow it to consolidate or make me worry. I got out with a small profit of £52, and just now the DAX has done nothing else, so my management worked well on that trade.

" I'm happy with a 1:1 or even greater with a 65-70% win rate. Your current results are clearly well above this without a losing day it would seem."

As the trader who taught me kept telling me and I do keep telling others here.... most of the time, you will only have a losing trade or losing day if you allow it to happen.

If you allow a profitable trade to turn sour, thats not the brokers problem, its not the SB firms problem, its not my problem, and its no some bankers problem either.... the only person that can allow a trade to turn negative after being positive is YOU. If you allow that to happen, then you open the door and possibility to have a losing trade or day.

Of course, the other scenario is out of your control in terms of stopping a losing trade, and thats when it turns negative right from the get go, but you can still limit that damage.

"reading your thread with mild amusement at first"

Glad I amuse you

 

[malaguti]

Hi malaguti,

I didn't turn £5,000 into £250,000, I trade with a much larger account than that, and thats why I'm able to make the money I do trading for 10 to 20pts per trade or more a few times per day.

" I, myself am happy to let the loss get hit, regardless of how long it takes. If its taking a long time, its probably consolidating and will then move in my favour."

Most people do trade that way, and if they are happy and satisfied with that, and their results are showing that to be a good way of trading for them, then who am I to say they are wrong.

I can only post my way of doing this, and it works for me very well. I'm not interested in being in a trade thats consolidating, I would rather take the small profit I have, or the break even I can get, and then forget about it and move on to the next trade when it comes along. I don't need to sit in a trade for 10 mins, 15 mins or 30 mins or 60 mins or more wondering if price will eventually move in my direction...wheres the point in that.

I prefer to just get out, either half of and stop to entry, or exit in full, then shove my money back into the market on the next trade and manage it as I see it there and then.

You can see on that last trade exactly what I did, I spotted a set-up and I anticipated the move, but price moved around 5pts in my direction then stalled, so I removed half off and stop to entry, the second half stopped out. The trade didn't workout for me, but I didn't let it come back on me and cause a loss, and I didn't allow it to consolidate or make me worry. I got out with a small profit of £52, and just now the DAX has done nothing else, so my management worked well on that trade.

" I'm happy with a 1:1 or even greater with a 65-70% win rate. Your current results are clearly well above this without a losing day it would seem."

As the trader who taught me kept telling me and I do keep telling others here.... most of the time, you will only have a losing trade or losing day if you allow it to happen.

If you allow a profitable trade to turn sour, thats not the brokers problem, its not the SB firms problem, its not my problem, and its no some bankers problem either.... the only person that can allow a trade to turn negative after being positive is YOU. If you allow that to happen, then you open the door and possibility to have a losing trade or day.

Of course, the other scenario is out of your control in terms of stopping a losing trade, and thats when it turns negative right from the get go, but you can still limit that damage.

"reading your thread with mild amusement at first"

Glad I amuse you

All points well made Dax, and appreciated

 

[Splitlink]

finspread cityindex same firm

Now, yes. My mistake was that I did not log the exact time and they said that there was no way that they would be able to find my closing trade on their tape.. So the onus was on me to do the proving. Telefonica turned up trumps on that one and I have, always, been grateful to them for that. City Index, too, to give them credit, acknowledged the mistake at once.

So a nasty scare was resolved. But I learned the lesson to, always, ring them at the end of my trading day, to ensure that my position was flat.

 

[barjon]

Yep, it's the old 'revenge' mentality, and not being able to take an action that crystalises a loss, even if it's the logical thing to do.

Mind you, I think you've got to know yourself and operate within those limits. For me:

I'm risk averse and don't have the balls to play with big money (for me!!) and even less to be able to cut it in the professional arena. Every single time I've tried to up the ante - to the dizzy heights equivalent to £25pp ftse - I've come a cropper as my balls shrivel even further.

Secondly, I just can't help hating to lose money - either initially or falling back from target. The mind's a funny thing - I feel as though my world has ended if price comes back 10 from my target, but feel merely mild irritation if it hurtles on another 40 when I've got out to target.

 

[Vasco da Banana]

Mind you, I think you've got to know yourself and operate within those limits. For me:

I'm risk averse and don't have the balls to play with big money (for me!!) and even less to be able to cut it in the professional arena. Every single time I've tried to up the ante - to the dizzy heights equivalent to £25pp ftse - I've come a cropper as my balls shrivel even further.

Secondly, I just can't help hating to lose money - either initially or falling back from target. The mind's a funny thing - I feel as though my world has ended if price comes back 10 from my target, but feel merely mild irritation if it hurtles on another 40 when I've got out to target.

The weird thing I find now is that I get just as stressed now when I'm trading with minimal stakes, when it really wouldn't matter much if the price moved 200pt against me. Something to do with accepting or admitting when you're wrong and being a ' failure', for the sake of a few quid.

 

[DAX30DayTrader]

I had a poor day today. Got married to the idea that 8800 was an important level, but it showed little significance.

I'm watching the 8770/80 - 8850/60 zone, thats the consolidation phase of this trend, so its all range trading within this zone until it breaks out again.

Still got a gap down at 8723 to fill as well.

 

[DAX30DayTrader]

I have a little position LONG on the DAX right here at 8803.

Took half off

And out the other half pretty much at break even.

Didn't get going for me, £52 all in.

By the way, if anyone is interested on why I took that trade, the answer is on the charts below.

The DJIA and STOXX had broke above their last swing highs at 16:00, while the DAX as always was lagging behind still below its swing high, it was 15 minutes later 16:15 when DAX caught up.

I didn't expect much from this trade though as we were heading into the European close, so my expectation was around 10 to 15pts, though I only got 5pts on half position.

Would help if you knew what chart was what...

Left is the DAX, Middle is DJIA, Right is STOXX

 

[DAX30DayTrader]

The old DAX is starting to catch up now with them.

 

[ndnole]

As the trader who taught me kept telling me and I do keep telling others here.... most of the time, you will only have a losing trade or losing day if you allow it to happen.

If you allow a profitable trade to turn sour, thats not the brokers problem, its not the SB firms problem, its not my problem, and its no some bankers problem either.... the only person that can allow a trade to turn negative after being positive is YOU. If you allow that to happen, then you open the door and possibility to have a losing trade or day.

Of course, the other scenario is out of your control in terms of stopping a losing trade, and thats when it turns negative right from the get go, but you can still limit that damage.

Very true. I'd say im right about entry about 60 to 70 % of the time. Its the rest thats I have to deal with.